432 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



the birds in several cases had an air of anxiety which betrayed 

 them, and an occasional " chip " of alarm or a bird sneaking 

 through the undergrowth with a worm or beetle grub in its 

 beak pointed to the fact that young were near by. 



The little I have been able to ascertain regarding their 

 food, points to its consisting of the same range of variety of 

 insects, worms and seeds eaten by the Song and Swamp Spar- 

 rows. Davie states that the nests are placed on the ground 

 like those of the Song Sparrow, and that they are composed of 

 grass. Three to four eggs are said to be laid, being greenish 

 white, marked with chestnut and lavender gray, chiefly at the 

 larger end. A set taken in Boulder, Colorado, July 18, he 

 states measure 0.81 x 0.58, 0.81 x 0.59, 0.82 x 0.60. 



584. Melospiza georgiana (Lath.). Swamp Sparrow. 



Plumage of adults : grayish line over and blackish one behind eye ; crown 

 rufous; forehead black; back streaked with black, the feathers margined 

 with rufous and ashy buff ; wings and tail dark brownish or blackish, edged 

 with chestnut ; wing coverts paler ; middle tail feathers darker on shafts ; 

 breast and sides grayish, not streaked ; throat and belly white. Immatiu-e 

 plumage : crown streaked with black, mixed with chestnut and grayish ; 

 breast somewhat brownish ; otherwise similar. Wing 2.40 ; culmen 0.44 ; 

 tail 2.40. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern North America westward to the Plains and accident- 

 ally to Utah ; breeding from northern Illinois and Pennsylvania to Labrador ; 

 wintering from Massachusetts and southern Illinois to the Gulf States. 



County Records.— Androscoggin ; fairly common summer resident, (John- 

 son). Aroostook ; a rather rare and very local summer resident in the Wool- 

 astook Valley, (Knight); not common at Houlton, (Batchelder). Cumber- 

 land; common summer resident, (Mead). Franklin ; quite common summer 

 resident, (Lee & McLain). Hancock ; rather common local summer resident, 

 (Knight). Kennebec; rare, (Gardiner Branch). Knox; summer, (Rackliff). 

 Oxford ; rare summer resident, (Johnson). Penobscot ; common local sum- 

 mer resident of southern section, rather less common but not rare north- 

 ward, (Knight). Piscataquis; one observed, (F. H. Allen); fairly common 

 near Dover, (Ritchie). Sagadahoc; common spring and fall, (Spinney). 

 Somerset; common summer resident, (Morrell); rare in northern sections, 

 (Knight). Waldo; local and fairly common summer resident, (Knight). 

 Washington; not uncommon summer resident, (Boardman). York; not 

 common migrant, (Adams). 



